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Patriarchs and Prophets
acknowledged their sin, they felt no true contrition, no abhorrence of
evil. They would have returned to their defiance of Heaven, had the
judgment been removed. So when God’s judgments shall fall upon the
earth before its deluge by fire, the impenitent will know just where and
what their sin is—the despising of His holy law. Yet they will have no
more true repentance than did the old-world sinners.
Some in their desperation endeavored to break into the ark, but
the firm-made structure withstood their efforts. Some clung to the ark
until they were borne away by the surging waters, or their hold was
broken by collision with rocks and trees. The massive ark trembled
in every fiber as it was beaten by the merciless winds and flung from
billow to billow. The cries of the beasts within expressed their fear
and pain. But amid the warring elements it continued to ride safely.
Angels that excel in strength were commissioned to preserve it.
The beasts, exposed to the tempest, rushed toward man, as though
expecting help from him. Some of the people bound their children and
themselves upon powerful animals, knowing that these were tenacious
of life, and would climb to the highest points to escape the rising
waters. Some fastened themselves to lofty trees on the summit of hills
or mountains; but the trees were uprooted, and with their burden of
living beings were hurled into the seething billows. One spot after
another that promised safety was abandoned. As the waters rose higher
and higher, the people fled for refuge to the loftiest mountains. Often
man and beast would struggle together for a foothold, until both were
swept away.
From the highest peaks men looked abroad upon a shoreless ocean.
The solemn warnings of God’s servant no longer seemed a subject
for ridicule and scorning. How those doomed sinners longed for the
opportunities which they had slighted! How they pleaded for one
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hour’s probation, one more privilege of mercy, one call from the lips of
Noah! But the sweet voice of mercy was no more to be heard by them.
Love, no less than justice, demanded that God’s judgments should put
a check on sin. The avenging waters swept over the last retreat, and
the despisers of God perished in the black depths.
“By the word of God ... the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by
the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
2 Peter 3:5-7
. Another storm